TradeGecko, a software-as-a-service startup that lets business owners manage inventory and orders without resorting to spreadsheets or enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, has raised a $6.5 million Series A round.
The funding, led by NSI Ventures and Jungle Ventures, will be used to hire new employees, including customer support staff, build new product features, and expand TradeGecko’s operations in the U.S. and Australia.
The Singapore-based startup currently has customers in about 90 countries (founder and CEO Cameron Priest won’t disclose the exact number, but says its client base includes a “few thousand” businesses) and claims it has helped process nearly $1 billion in transactions.
“Not a lot of people question how Amazon sources all their stuff or how their favorite retailer sources all their stuff,” says Priest.
“That retailer has such a difficult time. If he wants to order a certain wine, he needs to find a wholesaler, then he needs to do a purchase order. He calls the wholesaler, who has inventory to sell and that has traditionally been a very manual process. TradeGecko removes ERP systems, spreadsheets the manual order process, so retailers have the same efficiency as consumers do with Amazon.”
The company’s cloud-based software, accessible on desktop computers and mobile devices, integrates with accounting, shipping, and e-commerce platforms like Quickbooks, Xero, Shopify, Bigcommerce, and ShipStation.
TradeGecko’s platform is targeted toward B2C retailers as well as wholesalers. Most of the startup’s customers make about $1 million to $30 million in revenue per year, though the range goes up to about $95 million. Many of TradeGecko’s customers can’t justify the cost of SAP software, says Priest. Its subscription pricing model is based on how many customers a business services and which features they need.
The company’s main competitors include startups Stitch Labs and Unleashed Software, but Priest says they all tackle the market from different angles. TradeGecko differentiates by focusing on gaining customers who already have a stable business, but are setting up e-commerce operations for the first time. The company points to the $7.2 trillion in revenue U.S. wholesalers made in 2012 as an example of how large the market is.
Forty-four percent of TradeGecko’s customers currently come from North America. Its next biggest market is Australia, followed by the U.K., Singapore, and Hong Kong.
TradeGecko will expand in more regions by integrating with marketplaces like Alibaba.com and Taobao in China and Japan’s Rakuten.com. The next step in product development is adding new analytics features to help businesses forecast demand for certain products or identify who their best or worst customers are so they can do additional marketing.
Over the next 18 to 24 months, TradeGecko also plans to add features targeted to businesses in specific industries, such as batch tracking for electronic parts and expiry date tracking for pharmaceutical companies. Other verticals the company may tackle include apparel and food and beverage. Priest says adding features designed to automate inventory management will help TradeGecko pursue larger clients.